Toyota is all set to launch the Yaris in India in April 2018. Dealers across the country have already started accepting bookings against a refundable payment of Rs 50,000, and deliveries are likely to begin in May 2018. Toyota showcased only two variants of the Yaris at the Auto Expo 2018: the V and the VX. However, the carmaker might add another variant to the Yaris range at launch and that could be either the G or GL variant.
The Yaris will be powered by a 1.5-litre petrol engine that makes 108PS of power and 150Nm of torque. It will be coupled with a 6-speed manual transmission as standard, while a 7-speed CVT will also be on offer. Sources close to the company tell us that Toyota might offer the 7-speed CVT across all its variants, instead of limiting it to the top-spec variant only. If that happens, the Yaris will be the first mass-market car to offer an automatic transmission right from its base variant to the top.
Other sedans that rival the Yaris, such as the City, Verna, and Ciaz do offer automatic transmissions with petrol engines but they are limited to the top and mid variants only.
We expect the Yaris range to start from around Rs 9 lakh for the base manual variant. If that happens, the base petrol-CVT variant of the Yaris might see a sticker price of around Rs 10.50 lakh. For reference, the base petrol automatic variants of the Verna, Vento and the Rapid are priced at Rs 10.55 lakh, Rs 10.52 lakh and Rs 10.59 lakh respectively. The City’s most affordable petrol-AT variant, the V CVT (base petrol automatic), is priced at Rs 11.72 lakh, making it the most expensive base petrol-AT variant of any car in this segment. The Ciaz is the most affordable petrol automatic sedan in this segment with a starting price of Rs 9.42 lakh (all ex-showroom Delhi), about Rs 1 lakh cheaper than its competitors.
Having an automatic transmission might not make the Yaris the most affordable automatic petrol sedan in its segment but Toyota is expected to load even the base variant of the Yaris with features like 7 airbags and all around disc brakes and some more. The higher variants will include some segment-first features like tyre pressure monitoring system, front parking sensors, 8-way adjustable driver seats and roof-mounted rear AC vents.
